Author: Kevin Krajick14

Kevin Krajick is the former senior editor for science news at the Earth Institute and the Columbia Climate School. He grew up in the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley of upstate New York, where he worked at his high-school newspaper. He has since reported from all 50 U.S. states and 30-some countries, writing about science, medicine, crime, immigration and other issues. His work has appeared in National Geographic, Newsweek, The New Yorker, Science, Smithsonian and many other publications. He was a finalist for the National Magazine Award for Public Service for his reporting on organized crime’s links to the toxic waste-disposal industry. He is two-time winner of the American Geophysical Union’s Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence in Science Journalism, and his work has been featured repeatedly in the yearly book “Best American Science and Nature Writing.” His 2001 book “Barren Lands” is the true account of how two prospectors discovered vast deposits of diamonds in Canada’s remote far north. Krajick holds degrees in comparative literature and journalism from Columbia University. He lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with his family. You can email Kevin at: krk4@columbia.edu

Shifts in Deep Geologic Structure May Have Magnified Great 2011 Japan Tsunami

A new study looks at why the 2011 Tohoku tsunami off Japan was unexpectedly huge.
How One Manhattan Neighborhood Woke Up to Coronavirus

Snapshots of how one neighborhood is reacting to the outbreak.
Rain, More Than Wind, Led to Massive Toppling of Trees in Hurricane Maria, Says Study

The surprising finding suggests that future hurricanes stoked by warming climate may be even more destructive to forests than scientists have already projected.
Pioneer in Charting Modern Sea Level Rise to Receive 2020 Vetlesen Prize

A scientist who has played a key role in documenting modern sea level rise and its causes is to receive the 2020 Vetlesen Prize for achievement in the earth sciences.
A Guide to the Good, Low-Carbon Life

For about 10 years, environmental law professor Karl Coplan has been trying to winnow down his direct footprint of CO2 emissions. He has been successful, and has just published a book chronicling his efforts.
In Ancient Scottish Tree Rings, a Cautionary Tale on Climate, Politics and Survival

Using old tree rings and archival documents, historians and climate scientists have detailed an extreme cold period in Scotland in the 1690s that caused immense suffering. It may have lessons for Brexit-era politics.
Newly Identified Jet-Stream Pattern Could Imperil Global Food Supplies, Says Study

Scientists have identified systematic meanders in the northern jet stream that cause simultaneous crop-damaging heat waves in widely separated regions—a previously unknown threat to global food production that could worsen with warming.
Taro Takahashi, Who Uncovered Key Links Between Oceans and Climate

Taro Takahashi, a seagoing scientist who made key discoveries about carbon dioxide and the earth’s climate, has died. In a career spanning more than 60 years, he and his colleagues documented how the oceans both absorb and give off huge amounts of carbon dioxide, exchanging it with the atmosphere.
Within Sight of New York City, an Old-Growth Forest Faces Storms and Sea Level Rise

On a peninsula within sight of New York City, researchers are studying trees dating as far back as the early 1800s. Rising seas and more powerful storms, both fueled by climate change, could eventually spell their end.

Shifts in Deep Geologic Structure May Have Magnified Great 2011 Japan Tsunami

A new study looks at why the 2011 Tohoku tsunami off Japan was unexpectedly huge.
How One Manhattan Neighborhood Woke Up to Coronavirus

Snapshots of how one neighborhood is reacting to the outbreak.
Rain, More Than Wind, Led to Massive Toppling of Trees in Hurricane Maria, Says Study

The surprising finding suggests that future hurricanes stoked by warming climate may be even more destructive to forests than scientists have already projected.
Pioneer in Charting Modern Sea Level Rise to Receive 2020 Vetlesen Prize

A scientist who has played a key role in documenting modern sea level rise and its causes is to receive the 2020 Vetlesen Prize for achievement in the earth sciences.
A Guide to the Good, Low-Carbon Life

For about 10 years, environmental law professor Karl Coplan has been trying to winnow down his direct footprint of CO2 emissions. He has been successful, and has just published a book chronicling his efforts.
In Ancient Scottish Tree Rings, a Cautionary Tale on Climate, Politics and Survival

Using old tree rings and archival documents, historians and climate scientists have detailed an extreme cold period in Scotland in the 1690s that caused immense suffering. It may have lessons for Brexit-era politics.
Newly Identified Jet-Stream Pattern Could Imperil Global Food Supplies, Says Study

Scientists have identified systematic meanders in the northern jet stream that cause simultaneous crop-damaging heat waves in widely separated regions—a previously unknown threat to global food production that could worsen with warming.
Taro Takahashi, Who Uncovered Key Links Between Oceans and Climate

Taro Takahashi, a seagoing scientist who made key discoveries about carbon dioxide and the earth’s climate, has died. In a career spanning more than 60 years, he and his colleagues documented how the oceans both absorb and give off huge amounts of carbon dioxide, exchanging it with the atmosphere.
Within Sight of New York City, an Old-Growth Forest Faces Storms and Sea Level Rise

On a peninsula within sight of New York City, researchers are studying trees dating as far back as the early 1800s. Rising seas and more powerful storms, both fueled by climate change, could eventually spell their end.